Our take: Obvious enough for ya?

Was a massive university study really needed to determine that heat makes people irritable? (File)

Assorted thoughts on assorted subjects:

Hot new study: A "massive new study" led by a University of California, Berkeley economist found that when it gets hotter, people tend to get irritable and more likely to become violent.

No duh.

Did we really need a massive study to quantify the truth of old sayings such as "hot under the collar"?

At the risk of appearing to be anti-science, it seems like resources at major universities could be put to better use.

Still, the results of the study offer an, um, cold-blooded glimpse into our planet's future: As global temperatures rise because of greenhouse gases (now there's some scientific news we can actually use - though too many politicians refuse), our children and grandchildren could suffer more from war and crime.

Let's all just chill out.

EZ doe$ it on toll hikes: Speaking of getting hot under the collar, Pennsylvania Turnpike travelers who prefer to pay their tolls with cash are once again getting put through the wringer.

Tolls for cash travelers are already higher than for those who use E-ZPass.

A trip from Morgantown to Valley Forge costs $2.71 for an E-ZPass driver.

The same trip costs $3.55 for those paying cash.

Now tolls are going up, and that same trip will cost $2.77 or $4 for E-ZPass and cash payers, respectively. That's an increase of 2 percent vs. 12 percent.

We understand the disparity - human toll takers cost more than E-ZPass equipment.

But that disparity is growing too wide too quickly.

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Cash is still the legal tender of this land. It seems wrong to penalize so steeply people who just want to use that legal tender - and who don't want a bar code on their car that allows the government to track their movements (of course, those same people are probably complaining about E-ZPass on cell phones that can be tracked).

These increases are especially frustrating when you recall recent allegations of massive corruption and waste in the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. A grand jury presentment described alleged payoffs and political favors and recommended charges against eight people ranging from bribery to conspiracy to bid rigging to theft to conflict of interest to running a corrupt organization.

Great. Now travelers get to pay the bill for all that alleged corruption - and low-tech, mom-and-pop drivers who don't want all this newfangled E-ZPass stuff get to pay a larger share.

The Turnpike (and other toll roads) should move toward technology, but there ought to be electronic alternatives to E-ZPass that allow folks to pay the same rate with cash.

This editorial expresses the opinions of the York Daily Record/Sunday News Editorial Board: